Just another News Press

Pressure nothing new for All Blacks, says Read

Moody and Franks are joined by Brodie Retallick and Crusaders teammates Codie Taylor and Sam Whitelock in the All Blacks tight five for Saturday, as they look to halt the Lions’ bustling style and fluency at the set-piece.Like many in the British media it expresses surprise outstanding England lock Maro Itoje is only on the bench but surmises it is a measure to try and halt the All Blacks habit of scoring liberally in the last quarter.Gatland believes that passion, coupled with an attacking intent that the Lions have only showed in glimpses so far, will be needed to topple the back-to-back world champions. We struggled at the start of the tour, but we’ve outscored opponents nine tries to three in the last four games.”We’ve all played at Eden Park, we know how tough it is to play there”, said Murray, who will partner Owen Farrell at half-back.Gatland said there was no point playing it safe.”Teams have played against New Zealand and come close, the home nations have won against New Zealand in the past, so I think we’re drawing on that more so than looking at their impressive record in Eden Park”.Instead, Liam Williams was named at fullback and the elusive, big-booted Elliot Daly on the wing. They edge out Leigh Halfpenny and George North respectively, with North not even included in the match-day squad after failing to impress in the warm-up fixtures.He will wear a brace on Saturday, but was certain he could handle 80 minutes of Test footy and perform his usual leadership duties to boot.Gatland says they are in a good place at the moment as they have been improving week to week.”It will be hard to prepare exactly for what it will be like because it is a different beast to a World Cup final and other big games I’ve played”, he said.”The win against the Chiefs was also extremely important for the squad and some players played themselves into the side”.Errors and defeat can equally taint careers and the current coaches – Steve Hansen for the All Blacks and New Zealand-born Warren Gatland for the Lions – may face a new reckoning of their career achievements when the series is over.”There is a nice balance there while Peter captained the side against the Maori All Blacks and has done a good job”. We’ve got to stay alive.”The Times described the concussion-prone O’Mahony’s ascent as “remarkable” whilst adding Gatland’s selection declared an intent to take the game to the All Blacks”.”I think that the off-field stuff that people have been saying has put a bit of a dampener on the Tour but that’s professional sport now – you’ve got to live with that”, Gatland said last Saturday.Centre Ryan Crotty has also recovered from a rib injury and replaces Anton Lienert-Brown in a midfield partnership with Sonny Bill Williams.